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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27293479">Phone Calls</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquarius_Galaxy/pseuds/Aquarius_Galaxy'>Aquarius_Galaxy</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Leopika one shots [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Hunter X Hunter</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-10-31</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-18 10:15:41</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,271</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27293479</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aquarius_Galaxy/pseuds/Aquarius_Galaxy</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kurapika’s will leaves all of his belongings to Leorio</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kurapika/Leorio Paladiknight</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Leopika one shots [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1985971</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>48</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Phone Calls</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It started with a phone call.</p><p>Phone calls were never a good thing.</p><p>Any news, any questions, anything else worth saying could be sent in a simple text.</p><p>Phone calls, Leorio thought, were for tragedies.</p><p>Leorio had never hated being right more in his life.</p><p>———————————————————————————————————————————<br/>
“Mr. Paladiknight?”</p><p>“Can you.. is there any way you could.. do everything but.. everything but the eyes?”</p><p>“You.. want us to cremate everything but..his eyes?”</p><p>The lump in his throat could not be spoken past. A simple nod would have to suffice.</p><p>————————————————————————————————————————————</p><p>Lukso was almost more than Leorio could bear.</p><p>Almost everywhere his eyes grazed over, he swore he could see Kurapika. Kurapika by the river. Kurapika in the tree. Laying in the grass. Running through the fields. </p><p>Standing next to him.</p><p>Standing in a place that had before only existed to him in stories whispered against tan skin in the late hours of the night on the few occasions when secrecy could be risked, Leorio could feel his chest constrict tightly, but he steeled his heart.</p><p>He was here for a purpose.</p><p>Guiding the large bird he sat on towards the river, Leorio thought of the promise that Kurapika had made to him one night after they’d spent hours reminiscing on happier days, before either of them had known how cruel life could be.</p><p>————————————————————————————————————————————</p><p>“Leorio?” Kurapika’s soft, lilting voice drew Leori’s eyes up to his face.</p><p>“When- After I have all of the eyes.. would you go home with me?” Kurapika asked softly.</p><p>“Go home with you? You mean, back to your village? Peeks, of course I will. I always planned to.”</p><p>A soft smile.</p><p> </p><p>Just promise me one thing though.”</p><p>“Hmm? What?”</p><p>“Promise me that no matter what, we’ll go together.” Leorio fixed Kurapika with a firm stare, daring him to refuse. </p><p>Kurapika simply nodded.</p><p>“Okay. I promise.”</p><p>——————————————————————————————————————————</p><p>This was not how Leorio thought they’d be making this trip together. </p><p>Kurapika was supposed to be riding next to him on his own bird, telling Leorio stories from his childhood and pointing out where the market stand used to be or where he stood when he picked Pairo to accompany him for the test. </p><p>He wasn’t supposed to be in a ceramic jar cradled carefully in Leorio’s lap.</p><p>His eyes weren’t supposed to be in glass jars, transported in carefully cushioned bags with the rest of the eyes that he had sacrificed his life to obtain.</p><p>————————————————————————————————————————————</p><p>“So uh.. I guess this is it then..”</p><p>Leorio sat in front of the dozens of small graves he had dug and delicately laid the Kurta eyes in before covering them. Kurapika’s one mound laid directly in front of Leorio, the urn holding his ashes sitting beside it.</p><p>“When you taught me about.. you know, Kurta funerals or ceremonies or whatever.. I didn’t.. I didn’t think I would be here doing it without you..”</p><p>Leorio’s voice cracked at the end and he paused, closing his eyes  and attempted to gather his emotions.</p><p>“You were supposed to stay alive.</p><p>You were supposed to stay alive, and you were supposed to bury your people’s eyes. You were supposed to watch Gon and Killua grow up, and you were suppose to meet Alluka and- goddamn it Kurapika, you were supposed to come home!”</p><p>Tears streamed freely down Leorio’s face, the first he had allowed past the barrier he had so carefully kept up since receiving that phone call. </p><p>“You were supposed to come home and you were supposed to grow old with me and die when I died and not a second before. But you didn’t. You didn’t come home, you didn’t—“</p><p>Erratic breathing brought back under control.</p><p>The barrier replaced and evidence of its crumble wiped away.</p><p>“I pray that these remains find their way back to the earth from which they were created. I pray that these restless souls find peace and a safe journey to the kingdom where they will rejoice everlasting and await the coming of their loved ones. I pray that those left behind are able to move forward and find comfort in knowing these souls are at peace.”</p><p>Ashes scattered over small, muted shrines.</p><p>A friend laid to rest, too soon for his time. </p><p>A troubled soul finally at peace.</p><p>————————————————————————————————————————————</p><p>“Mr. Kurta named you as the sole inheiritant of his belongings.”</p><p>And what belongings were those? What had Kurapika left behind to Leorio aside from the worst pain he had ever known and a hole in his heart that was much too big for anyone else to have the hope of filling?</p><p>It was almost as if the Kurta wanted to hurt Leorio even in death, Leorio thought as he looked through the small box containing the only items Kurapika had had to his name. </p><p>His signature blue robes, the edges slightly frayed from years of being worn.</p><p>The small white tag bearing his applicant number from the hunter exam.</p><p>The two wooden swords that Kurapika seemed to always have hidden somewhere on his person.</p><p>The single ruby earring he wore.</p><p>A photograph of Kurapika, Leorio, Gon, and Killua in Yorknew City.</p><p>Leorio’s slender fingers trembled when he picked up the remaining item tucked carefully in the bottom of the box. He recognized his own name scrawled in Kurapika’s slanted handwriting and carefully unfolded the fragile pages. </p><p>As he read, Leorio felt his world spiraling and crumbling around him.</p><p>If he could go back in time, he never would have answered the phone.</p><p>Leorio hated phone calls. And now he hated them more than ever before. </p><p>————————————————————————————————————————————</p><p>Leorio,</p><p>My hope is that this letter never finds you, but in the event that it does, I apologize. It was never my intention to leave you behind; I had always planned to return to you once I had achieved what I set out to do. </p><p>I know that while you do not approve of the things I have done or will do, you have always given me your unwavering support, and for that I am grateful. I hope that in the time before you received this letter, I was able to show you even just a fraction how my gratitude, though I doubt that if I would have lived to be a hundred I would have been able to show you it all.</p><p>I am writing this letter to you because you are the person I held most dear in this life. Your friendship meant more to me than any other, even if I failed to show you. </p><p>I want you to find someone who makes you happy Leorio. Truly happy. Don’t let yourself drown in the pain, anger, and sadness that I let consume me. My biggest regret is that I let those emotions get in the way of what really mattered.  Please do not suffer the same fate that I did.</p><p>Lastly, I know it is selfish of me to ask this of you, but it is the only thing I have ever wanted enough for me to voice—</p><p>Please don’t forget me Leorio. Don’t let my memory or that of my people die with me. It is the only thing I could ask for, and something I could only trust to you. Because I know that you won’t. You are the most loyal, caring person I ever had the pleasure of knowing, and it puts my soul at rest to know that you will always keep me with you. I am at peace as long as you carry me in your heart.</p><p>I’m sorry that I couldn’t come home.</p><p>But please know that I tried. I really tried.</p><p>Yours in life and in death,<br/>
Kurapika</p>
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